As late as 1990, the preparation and planning for radiation therapy for cancer was done using conventional simulators that essentially made fuzzy x-rays that oncologist, physicists, and dosemetrist would use with grease pencils and protractors to figure out the best angle to bombard the patient’s tumor. The process took about and hour and a half putting the patient who was in pain, sick, and scared into uncomfortable positions.

Along came Picker International (now Philips) who came up with the idea of using CT scanners for 3-D pictures of the patient and created 3-D manipulation, much like in video games, to make more precise solutions in about 22 minutes. Back then the market said “huh?, I didn’t know you can do that” and in the notoriously conservative medical industry, CT simulation is now the predominant and preferred method of radiation therapy planning.

See, we CAN do it.

Add to that learning to identify those early adopters and building relationships with them so we can continually feed them innovations to explore with us. Early adopters like to feel they are on the leading edge, but we also want to look for those who really like to make things happen and are willing to take time to share with us what they’re learning.

The idea of active listening solves for me the paradox of innovation: How do you design something new for a need that the market doesn’t even know it has?

Wow. The brainpower we have amazes me.

I think the iPod is another example… no Apple computer user was dreaming of an MP3 player… but now the iPod with podcasting and iTunes and video on demand[my choice my schedule] is changing the whole media business!

Apple has been very good at “action listening” w/ the iPod… something they were not so good at with the Mac from the late 80s to the late 90s. Then with the first iMac they got a “hearing aid”….